Teachers’ award near settlement?
By JENNY LONG The secondary school teachers’ longrunning award talks might soon be settled, according to the State Services Commission. A spokesman said he was hopeful that the award could be settled when talks resumed in about a week. Talks cannot be held in the coming week because the commission itself is being restructured, and time has been set aside for interviews next week. The P.P.T.A. president, Ms Ruth Chapman, said the association wanted to keep talking, but was unhappy that talks had stalled yesteday over the issue of teacher competence.
“The issue is simple: Will there be national standards? And if there are, will boards of trustees be able to vary those national standards and, in effect, create local standards?”
After 32 days of talks, the issue of national standards still needed to be resolved, she said.
A commission spokesman, Mr Gerald Minnee, said the S.S.C., the Government and teachers all accepted the need for national standards. The issue was whether they should be negotiated in the award. “We would accept that the award could cover the procedures for disciplining and
appraising staff. But the award should not be used for setting the standards.” Mr Minnee said it was up to the Government on behalf of the community to decide on the standards.
A spokesman for the Minister of Education, Mr Lange, said that the Minister had clearly stated the need for national standards.
“Rather than being in the awards, they could be contained in a separate form, between the P.P.T.A., other teacher organisations, and the Government. (The Minister) does not see that they need to be part of the award talks,” he said.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19890603.2.72
Bibliographic details
Press, 3 June 1989, Page 9
Word Count
279Teachers’ award near settlement? Press, 3 June 1989, Page 9
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.